Negotiation and compromise. Ask my wife, and she'll tell you that I'm sometimes into it and sometimes not so much. I regret to report that in all my years of education - great public schools, Ivy League college, first class seminary - I received not a lick of training in negotiation and compromise. I suppose teachers hoped we'd pick it up along the way. But in terms of theory, training, practice: not a lick.
Here's the thing though: negotation and compromise are to marriage, to religious life, to local and national politics, what communion and baptism are to Christian practice. They're essential, formative, kind of like sacraments. Without negotiation and compromise, we're self-involved zealots; and community hasn't a chance.
I'm impressed with the way the President and Democratic leadership in Congress have kept doors open and conversation alive during weeks of contentious debate around health care reform. They seem to have negotiated and negotiated and compromised a great deal. And not in a weak way. The President's commitment seems to be a national discussion, a national debate, a national commitment to something better. He's given opponents - wise and silly - lots of space and lots of opportunity for critique and suggestion. Rather than imposing his will (or some ideological program) on all comers, the President leads by keeping in touch and listening. His goal is pragmatic: developing legislation that works, legislation that passes, legislation that changes things for the better.
This isn't to say principles are unimportant. And today, at last, Senator Reid has indicated that the bill he's putting before the Senate will indeed include an 'opt-out' public option. It's not universal health care (as many of us preferred); and it's not the strongest public option, either. But through months of debate, through negotiation and compromise, guided by principle, Reid's bill is what we've got now. A chance to make meaningful reform a reality NOW. (You can check out one progressive assessment of Senator Reid's game plan here at http://www.openleft.com/.)
The road ahead is still quite long, and it'll undoubtedly be nasty. Social change never comes easily; and its opponents will be loud, resolved and harsh. But this is one of those American moments, one of those noble moments in which we can be proud of our leaders and proud of our democratic traditions. We can also be involved! It's not time to sit still. I'm reminded by friends in COPA (Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action ) that 45 million folks are without health care coverage in this country. The public option piece of health care reform is a key piece of the larger strategy to insure these women, men and children. And it's a key piece of containing costs so that economic recovery can proceed and businesses can grow and jobs can follow.
For progressive Christians like me, I see this as a key moment, a 'kairos' moment. It's time. It's time to focus on our core values and social ethic: that the best we can do as human beings is care for one another, that the best we can do as citizens is protect and serve the most vulnerable. As long as 45 million are uninsured, as long as huge companies are making a killing on health insurance, America is not what America should be. We can work together - people of all faiths, people from all backgrounds, progressive and centrist and just plain compassionate - to make this health care bill a step in the right directioin.
As for us Christians, what's at stake? Well, I sure hope we don't subscribe to the dog-eat-dog gospel of Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh, the trickle-down gospel of Ronald Reagan and George Bush. They preach - and they'll continue to preach - that God made us that way. That messing around with health care reform is "communist" and "liberal" and "unnatural." What a bunch of bunk! (Singer Bruce Cockburn's got a sharp, cutting song about this, by the way: "The Gospel of Bondage"!) Politics are an obligation in civil society; and we Christians have to choose. Will we participate and negotiate as brothers and sisters of the vulnerable? Or will we buckle to the perpetrators of fear?
For my part, I'm supporting my congregation's presence at a 1000-person meeting with our local congressman on November 22. He's a very solid ally, our congressman; and he'll be quite responsive to our passion for reform. But even more, I hope politicians of all persuasions will take note that we're involved now. People of faith, progressives, people of conscience. We're not navel-gazing while the politics of selfishness twist American ideals into angry and miserable tools of greed. We're involved now. We're paying attention now. And this health care bill is going to be our health care bill. One nation, connected and dependent, with liberty and justice and basic dignity for all.
